Overing, Gillian. A body in question

• Author: Overing, Gillian
• Title: A body in question: Aging, community, and gender in medieval Iceland
• Published in: Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 29, 2
• Year: 1999
• Pages: 211-225
• E-text:
• Reference: Overing, Gillian. "A body in question: Aging, community, and gender in medieval Iceland." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 29, 2 (Spring 1999): 211-225.

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Annotation

Gillian Overing poses the question of what it meant to be ‘old’ in medieval Iceland, arguing from saga evidence – including the figures of Egill Skallagrímsson and Sæunn of Njáls saga - that the denoting of an individual as ‘old’ did not depend purely on said individual’s literal age but on their (in)ability to carry out social functions. These social functions are discussed in relation to two overlapping societal structures in Commonwealth Iceland, the hreppar, or communes, and the goði system. The country was divided into hreppar in the tenth century: members of these communes bonded together for support, transcending the familial support system. An old person could retain social relevance under the hreppar system by carrying out menial tasks; if, however, they became physically incapable they could be condemned as an ‘itinerant’, shuffled around between the households of the commune. The goði system developed alongside and often in tension with the hreppar system, and again the status of old people was ambivalent: an old man could retain power and relevance as the owner of a goðorð, but only as long as his wealth lasted. Thus class, ability and age intersect, with poverty and disability exacerbating an individual’s elderliness in the eyes of the community. Overing ends her article with a discussion of gendered aging, arguing that men and women ‘aged’ differently. Elderly women are often portrayed as wise, gossipy and possessing magical powers, characteristics which they may have been forced to adopt in order to retain relevance.

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References

Chapter 88: Egill var þá að Mosfelli með Grími og Þórdísi: "As late as 1730 in Iceland, no more than 12 percent of households were three-generational; hence the multigenerational household of the irascible octogenarian Egil Skallagrímsson must surely have been highly unusual in the settlement period." (p. 216)

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• Written by: Anna McCully Stewart
• Icelandic/English translation: